Vincent Dunn makes no apologies about being the biggest pest in the arena, the guy whose nasty reputation keeps opponents looking over their shoulders when he’s on the ice. Being a nuisance is his golden ticket to the big leagues.

So, watching his involvement in a mild dust-up during a practice with his peers at the Ottawa Senators rookie camp Friday was far from a shocker. During the past three seasons playing for three teams in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, Dunn has served a series of suspensions for hitting from behind, a high elbow, “inappropriate racial remarks”, and the latest, a hair-pulling incident during a pre-season game earlier this month while playing for Rimouski.

The challenge for Dunn, who could one day replace Chris Neil as the Senators chief agitator, is channeling the rage.

When the Senators drafted the 5-11, 188-pound Gatineau native in the fifth round (138th overall) in 2013, it was because of his edge. When they signed him to a three-year entry level deal in August, a message was attached to the contract: the bad boy image can only go so far, that he must discover the fine line between what’s fair and what’s foul.

“They told me they want me to find that line,” says Dunn, who will be part of the Senators lineup Saturday in a rookie tournament game against the Pittsburgh Penguins in London. “It’s pretty tough, with different referees sometimes, but I need to concentrate more on my emotions. A lot of times they take me over. I’ve worked a lot on this with my coach in Rimouski. I have a job to do and I’m working hard to fix it.

“The line is so little. If I cross it, my team loses and if I don’t cross it, my team wins. Sometimes, it’s tough for me to find that line and everything, but it’s my job to find it.”

Dunn, who turns 19 Sunday, has offensive talent. He scored 31 goals and 51 points (along with 156 penalty minutes) in his suspension-shortened 50-game regular season with Gatineau in 2013-14 and he added another three goals and six assists in nine games during the playoffs.

A year ago at the Senators’ rookie tournament, he did a little bit of what was expected (a fight) and the unexpected (two goals in eight seconds) to help defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-2.

“Last year, I was playing with (Jean-Gabriel) Pageau and (Mark) Stone, so that helped me a lot, but my main game is to be intense, to finish my hits, to play simple, to be there for my teammates.”

While Dunn will likely play on a first or second line this season in Rimouski – Gatineau traded him in the summer — he’s under no illusions of following in the skate marks of junior sensations Vincent Lecavalier or Sidney Crosby in those parts.

“I’m not a first-line player,” he says. “If I play upstairs (in the NHL), I will be on a third or fourth line. It’s not really my job this year (to score), it’s to be there for my teammates, to create space for the skilled guys on my line and everything.”

Indeed, Dunn’s hockey homework involves intense study of just how Neil and fellow NHL agitators Andrew Shaw of Chicago and Brad Marchand of Boston succeed by pestering their competition, while also avoiding a steady parade to the penalty box.

Rimouski, which has designs on the Memorial Cup title, needs Dunn to protect its stars without hurting the team by taking silly penalties or while sitting out even more suspensions.

Criticize his game all you want, but it takes all sorts to build a championship team. There’s a reason why the Jarkko Ruutu’s of the hockey world enjoyed extended careers. That’s not to say the Senators want Dunn to add a biting suspension to his resume this season, but they do want him to showcase what he does best in helping Rimouski succeed.

Again, Dunn isn’t hiding from any of it.

“I want to be annoying on the ice, I want the other team to know I’m there, I want the other team to take penalties,” he says. “Maybe if my team goes on the power play, we score. Sometimes, I cross the line and I’m going to the (penalty) box.

“I’m still young, but this year, I have to find that line, it’s my last year of junior. I want to go far, I want to win. All the guys know we have pressure. We need to win.”

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